Quoted from gdonovan:By definition if you are taking out a loan and paying interest on a $20k toy I would not use the term "afford"
In the late 60s, when the muscle car era was born, the street were full of Mustangs, GTOs, SS Chevelles, etc. This was a also the same era where financing was gaining ground. And this is the time where the "Truth in Lending" laws became law. Because Average Joe did not know how financing and interest rates worked ( Of course, today, Average Joe still knows squat about finance and interest rates).
Anyway, at that time, some of the young guys with the hot cars were figuring out the hard way that car payments suck. And the big thing that was happening for a couple of years is cars were being put up for sale for just taking over the payments. Such as:
For sale:
1969 Chevelle SS 396. take over payments.
1967 Mustang GT. take over payments.
They were not even trying to get some money for the sale: It was just, " get me out of these car payments !" . Today, it would be the acronym of TOP.
Food for thought: Is the guy with a mortgage, an SUV payment, and some credit card debt, really above water if he pays cash for a pinball machine?
IMO, the craziest finance deal I ever saw was at Cabela's headquarter store in Sidney Nebraska. You could buy a low end fishing rig for just $120.00 per month---for 120 months. Big wow. 10 years worth of boat payments.
But 3 year financing on a pinball machine is out there.